What can I legally do in this situation?

Question

This is rather long, but someone with knowledge of legal actions, please help me.We were paying $400 a month in child support for my stepdaughter. Her mother abandoned her 2 years ago with a drug dealer, and split, no contact with her in 2 years now. When my husband found out, he went and got her, and she's been with us ever since. We hired a lawyer last year in Jan. to get custody of her. They put an add in the paper to try to contact the mother and let her know we are taking legal action. No response from her.For the last 2 years, they have still been taking the child support out of my husband's checks, because the papers have not been changed yet. My husband recently changed jobs, so they were not able to deduct the child support any longer, because they were not aware of where he was working. This was a releif. Well, when we got our income tax in this year, they deducted over $2,000 dollars from it for the back child support we owed, even though we have had this girl almost 2 years

Our court date finally came, but they had to reschedule it because it turns out that the newspaper misprinted the info. to try to contact the mother, so they must go through this again before they can set a court date. I was under the impression that they would at least stop the child support. Well, last week, my husband got his check, and they have begun to deduct the child support out again. My husband contacted the lawyer, but she hasn't gotten back with us, yet. We can't live like this. We have four other children, and this child support is draining us. What can we do to get this child support stopped, or at least eventually get the money back that has been going to this woman for almost 2 years, only to support her drug habit? Please help. I have no knowledge of anything about this.

I realize when the mother finally gets served the papers saying we have custody, she will owe us back child support. But she won't pay it. She has 4 other girls, all taken away from her, and pays child support on none. If she shows up to court, she'll be arrested for having warrants, so most likely she won't show up. But is there any other way to get this money back, and get this child support stopped NOW?

I agree, Mark. The lawyer is being of no help. I call at least once a week, and get her secretary who takes a message, and she never returns the calls.

Yeah, Joseph, it does seem like they should be able to track her down by tracing where the checks are being picked up and cashed. I think something is majorly screwed up here.

Answer 1

you need to petition the family court for a change in the child support payment , on the grounds that 1. the mother abandoned the chils and 2 , that she is now in your custody.

You might not get any money back but you should be able to get further payments stopped.

You should have done that when you took custody of the child .

If you have a lawyer acting for you he isnt doing a good job.

Answer 2

I don't have a certain answer on this. All of the legal knowledge I have on custody comes from my parents who were foster parents for most of their lives. During my lifetime they entered three very large and tiring court battles for custody.

The all went much as you described. The proceedure was very confusing, very time consuming, and even when things seemed close to closure, something would always go wrong. In one court battle, the court date was resceduled five times because of everything from the social worker simply not showing up, to the judge being sick and not being able to find a stand-in. The war of that court battle was waged over the span of two years.

Unfortunately, I do know that there is no way to get the child support deductions ceased without a court order. That requires a court date, and a judges decree. Even if she had lived with you for twenty years, this would still be the case.

It is legal for them to claim back child support on taxes, or heck, even on lottery winnings if you happen to win the lottery :)

Now, the trick here in my opinion (Which isn't a very professional one, heh), is to try to get some of that money back for time in custody. The judge can make this decision, and if the mother has not been caring for the child for the last two years, but your husband has been paying her child support, then the question must be risen.....what has she used the money for? Now, regardless of what the answer is, it will obviously be "Not for the child". So, she in turn is commiting a crime. Child support money is not just money thrown to the wind. It is required to go to the support of a child, and in order for that to happen the mother has to be raising, or in some way paying for the child.

Now, if she's been sending items, and clothing, and an equal amount of items as she's been recieving to the child, it would be legit. But, I doubt she has, otherwise it wouldn't be such a big issue.

You may not resolve this with one court battle. The judge can stop the child support payments. You may, or may not, have to take the mother to court to get the money back. All you have to do is prove she wasn't caring for the child, and it will go through easily. Then, the problem becomes actually getting the mother to pay, of course.

Hope this helps a little.

Oh right...if she's not responding to the newspaper ads (Which is standard proceedure, I've seen this done many times), it might be excessively hard to track her down. But, at that juncture, when the courts are involved, they should be able to track where the money has been picked up. At some point, the money coming from your husbands check has to get into her hands. I'm sure a court summons could be passed along just as well, and if not, they'd eventually issue a warrant for her. If she truely is a deadbeat, she'll likely get picked up eventually.

If there are issues finding the mother, a Private Investigator may help. My Unclue use to work as a P.I. and he did some pretty damn amazing things during his career. Some of them are crap. Most of them can at least "find" people, however. And some of them are excellent. Just like any other job, I guess.

If you do ever hire a P.I. watch out for money up front investments. A one time up front fee is one thing. If he comes back looking for more money, and you haven't seen results, it's shady. P.I. who require too much money up front usually require that money because they're not very successful. A good P.I. will get you results before you pay. My uncle didn't even charge an upfront fee to his customers, he just tallied all of his costs and showed verified documentation of all of them to the client. I often thought about going to work for him, but then he retired before I was even 18 :)

Answer 3

If you have full custody of her, you need to keep hounding your lawyer, or get information from another one. You need to take the mother to court in order to drop the child support you are paying, but you might also need to try and contact the mother to get her to agree to drop it. In your case, since she has been gone for so long, you can still take it to court and probably get her for negligence. If they granted you full custody already, that shouldn't be a problem. Then the court forces the mother to pay back the child support you have paid out during the time you had custody of her. The child support system is all screwed up depending on what state you live in, but if you fight your butt off for the child in question, you should come out a winner. In your case, the mother abandoned this child, so she should be put in jail for negligence. You and your husband have that right to put her away for that, even if she hasn't been in contact in two years. My advice to you, is that you need to contact any other lawyer if you can't talk to yours, and tell them you want to go forward with full custody because she was, in fact, abandoned, and that you want to know if you can get back everything you had paid in the last two years. The mother should have no rights anymore, considering she uses drugs. The courts should have her rights taken away from her so you can proceed.The father is next in line to gain custody of this child, so you should be fine. Just don't let it stress your family out, because it will cause worse problems down the road. Let me know what happens! My husband and I would like to try to get custody of his son. Were not in the exact position as you are, but I know about the child support system and the legality of it. I hope anything I said helps you. Good luck! E- mail me anytime if you'd like to chat about anything!
E-Mail: [e-mail]

Answer 4

Sorry I didn't read all...But is a part that I read that say a lot.
She wasn't in custody of the little girl for the past 2 years..Who ever was taking care her for that time is the one that have to getting the child support, until the date the father of the child start having her=child in his custody...If that child support was send it to the mother and she wasn't taking care the child..And you have witness of that...I say YES the child father will get the money back from the mother for the last past 2 years...He won't get it at once. But he will get it back yes. Doesn't matter they deduct the 2,000 they have to give him back that money..He needs to prove that the date from the time he have his daughter...That's all The child support office can't stole that money trust me on that Just have proves of everything and all will end up good

Answer 5

Which ever court entered the support order can modify it and probably will however if your lawyer nhas not told you that and you have asked him about this you may need to talk with yiour swtate bar association re the quality of legal representation you have received. I'm glad your step daughter has you and your husband.

Answer 6

if it is that important to you.... obviously your husband has "custody" of the child right now (whether is be legal custody or not). get some evidence on the child's mother (incriminating), and get a high profile lawyer (it will be worth it to you in the end), and do an uncontested adoption.

granted, it is harder to do this in the father's favor vs the mother's favor, but it can be done.

Answer 7

...It sounds like you are doing what you need to do... until the Court reverses the Order... that what happens... make sure when the Order is reversed that you get back ALL the money you paid in since the abandonment by the mother...

Answer 8

Where is your decree from? If its in travis county you can contact the domestic relations office and they will help. If its in another county contact the attorney general of that county.